Barbican Britten: Phaedra is just one of the events in the venue’s two-week celebration of the composer’s centenary. The programme presents four pieces choreographed by Richard Alston to Benjamin Britten’s music. Alston’s choreography is well suited to Britten’s music: both artists are lyrical, tempered, and incline toward narrative.

As my seatmate remarked to me after the concert, it is strange and wonderful to hear Benjamin Britten and Dmitri Shostakovich, who befriended each other late in life, begin to sound alike in their old age while remaining unmistakably themselves. I agreed.

2013Bachtrack Ltdhttps://bachtrack.com/themes/bachtrack2013/mastheadlogo.png2013-11-07UTC16:49:53+00:002013-09-04Review of Teodor Currentzis and the Mahler Chamber Orchestra at Musikfest Berlin.Oratorio for the end of the world: Teodor Currentzis and Mahler Chamber Orchestra at Musikfest Berlinen_GBtruehttps://bachtrack.com/review-musikfest-berlin-2013-mahler-co-currentzisBachtrack Ltdhttps://bachtrack.com/themes/bachtrack2013/mastheadlogo.pngDan Wanghttps://bachtrack.com/22/270/list-published/2135https://bachtrack.com/22/270/list-published/2135https://bachtrack.com/files/27231-dan_wang.jpgDan Wang is a graduate student in music history and theory at the University of Chicago.https://bachtrack.com/files/1956-mco__1__credit_sonja_werner_090608.jpg400400Mahler Chamber Orchestra Sonja Werner2013-Sep-02, Philharmonie: Großer Saal: Mahler Chamber Orchestra @Musikfest Berlinhttps://bachtrack.com/listing-musikfest-berlin-2013-mahler-co-currentzis2013-09-022013-09-02Philharmonie: Großer SaalBerlinBerlinGermanyD107851 Herbert-von-Karajan-Straße52.50983113.3684484

In a brief mid-concert interview for BBC Radio 3, conductor Sian Edwards was asked why Britten and his contemporaries wrote so much music for small string orchestra, and her answer illuminated the choice of programming for this Proms Saturday Matinee performance.

22 November 2012 would have been Benjamin Britten’s 99th birthday. Wigmore Hall marked the occasion with the first concert in a series of nine events in November and December. However, rather than focusing exclusively on Britten’s music, it built towards the climax that saw Britten’s angst-ridden late masterpiece Phaedra searingly performed.